NACC Report - Top 50
My preparation for the event was playing in Battlegrounds, some personal testing with players from RIW and MWs testing. I had the most experience before the tournament with a few decks, but I had played most of the popular decks for a few matches to test them out. I had played Lionar Orgrimmar in most of the local tournaments, and played Varanis at DMF:Boston, playing the same 70 as Phil Cape. I lost twice to Black Ice, so I really wanted to pick something for NACC that had a good matchup against Black Ice. I had tested mostly Mazar and Orgrimmar on MWS, impressed with Hesriana, like many others, so I was planning on playing one of these two decks. When I arrived in Indy on Thursday morning, Phil and Basem Alsalah gave me an idea, which I couldn't believe we hadn't thought up before, playing Warlock Orcs, exchanging Finishing Shout and Sudden Death for Hesriana, Eye of Kilrog and Banish to the Nether. The main idea was that all three of these cards were good answers to Weldon, and also improved the mirror. So most of my hotel room, and some teammates in another hotel, were on board playing Warlock Orcs.
We spent all of Thursday trying to track down enough copies of the Orc uncommons, had the decks built, had decklists written and were working on sideboards at about 11 PM when we realized that Bonechewer Behemoth was "Traitor Hero Req". Yes, the entire team was about to register illegal decklists for nationals. At midnight, after testing the Warlock v Warrior Orc mirror, and realizing that the loss of Bonechewer and instant speed removal wasn't worth Hesriana (mainly because she was a 2/3 - even if she killed a creature on 3, unless it was a Vexmaster, she was never fast enough to trade for another creature, because they were all x/3's). All in all, I felt that both lists were strong, but I wanted to go with the list I was more familiar with, and the rest of the team that was playing Orcs felt the same way.
After some last minute scrambling and failing to find enough Twinblades for the whole team, this is the list I registered:
Hero: Lionar the Blood Cursed
Allies
4 Bloodsoul
4 Offender Gora
4 Kagella Shadowmark
3 Vexmaster Nar’jo
4 Furious Kalla
3 Cromarius Blackfist
4 Kazamon Steelskin
4 Munkin Blackfist
3 Bonechewer Behemoth
3 Rehgar Earthfury
Abilities
3 Sudden Death
3 Finishing Shout
3 Bloody Ritual
Locations
4 Orgrimmar
Quests
4 Torek’s Assault
4 Bolstering Our Defenses
3 Uncatalogued Species
Side Deck
4 Brok Bloodcaller
3 Smash
1 Cromarius Blackfist
1 Finishing Shout
1 Vexmaster Nar'jo
We joked for a while about adding 1 Illidan to the board, just for laughs, but after waking up and realizing we were being stupid, we finally shuffled up for a long 9 rounds on day 1.
My apologies for the lack of perfect sideboarding, my memory is not perfect, but will add as much as I remember.
Round 1 - v. Mythen of the Fang
Game 1 - After winning the roll, Vexmaster on 2 ate an Apprentice Merry, but he had an active Form of the Serpent that was counting up. We were racing, but I had a Bonechewer that I was sandbagging to win the race. On the final turn, he played Wastewalker Helm facing my two creatures, one being a Kazamon. I had lethal this turn if he didn't kill my second creature due to Bonechewer, so I attacked with the other creature first, and after thinking for a long time, he wasn't able to think of a reason to kill it, and I burned him out with Bonechewer.
Sideboarding - In - Cromarius, Brok, a couple Smash's
Game 2 - I kept him off of a critical mass of equipment / abilities with Cromarius and Munkin, and was able to burn him out again from 20 with Bonechewer + Orgrimmar.
1-0
Round 2 - v. Hunter Orcs
This deck was the Orc base, with Dundee and Snipe. I personally think this version is much weaker than the Warrior build, missing both Finishing Shout and Bloody Ritual, which are both very critical to the deck. He told me that he won Round 1 because his opponent didn't show up, and I mentally
Game 1 - I lost the roll, but had Orgrimmar, and Kazamon got enough value to hold him off long enough to make up for losing the roll.
In - Brok, FS, and Vexmaster
Game 2 - He had Orgrimmar, and was fast enough that I couldn't keep up. My Finishing Shout on 5 killed a lot of creatures, but he had enough creatures left to kill me.
Game 3 - We both had Orgrimmar, but being in the play put me ahead, and Dundee was not good enough, and it was just Sudden Death'ed. Finishing Shout + Rehgar got the win.
2-0
Round 3 - v. BI
Game 1 - I played around the Taste of Arcana that I had the sick read was in his hand, but my hand was not powerful enough to deal with the start of Defias, Defias, Defias, Water Elemental, Water Elemental, Weldon Barov, Weldon Barov. Yes, must be nice...
Game 2 - I had Orgrimmar, which let me play around Taste easily, and 2 Brok's dealt with most of his threats. A Sudden Death killed a Weldon, and we were moving to game 3.
Game 3 - Turn 2 I cast Kagella, and he held me up for a long time, deciding whether or not to Taste it, and eventually chose to let it resolve. So after this, I played around Taste, and later on double Taste. This game went long, and I killed his first Weldon with a Gora that he decided not to Taste, another creature, Flip, and then Kazamon into Weldon. However, he backed this up by drawing a bunch of 5 drops, and I couldn't keep up after Dimzer and the 2nd Weldon.
2-1
Round 4 v Red Traitor Druid
Games 1 and 2 were very similar - Cromarius and Munkin killed any important abilites/equipment, and Kazamon attacked for a lot. He played Keldor the Lost, which slowed me down slightly, but Orgrimmar made up for the tempo change, and Keldor was eaten by a Kazamon.
3-1
Round 5 v Priest Discard
Game 1 -
He won the roll, and emptied my hand on 3. Spelunker on 4 and Weldon on 5 and we were on to game 2.
Game 2 -
On the play, I put on good pressure, and had 3 cards in my hand on turn 3, and he spent a long time thinking between Lose Control and the Discard 2. He eventually chose to lose control, and obviously hit the Bloody Ritual I had. Spelunker and Weldon ended this game just as quickly as the last one.
3-2
Round 6 v Witch Doctor Koozar
I wasn't happy about having to play against a teammate here, but I had tested this matchup extensively, so I felt comfortable.
Game 1 - The Orgrimmar deck does what it does best, go bigger and better than the other aggro decks, with Kazamon and Finishing Shout to kill a bunch of allies before she could kill me.
Game 2 - The Koozar deck does what it does best, vomiting guys into play, and backing that up with Shadowfiends, and I was dead very quickly.
Game 3 - I had Orgrimmar again, which helped keep her team in check. She killed the first Finishing Shout, but I had a second to ensure that she couldn't burn me with Shadowfiends. I killed her guys with value, and eventually went to the face. This matchup is all about keeping your life total as high as possible. Munkin isn't as bad as he looks, because he shuts off Shadowfiend.
4-2
Round 7 - Mythen
Both games went the same way, we both got some extra damage in, and were racing, and I was going to win the race both games, but he had 2x Hibernates both times to give him the win, even in the face of Bonechewer.
4-3
Round 8 - Holy Paladin
He already seemed to have given up, playing very loose. Both games he played Concentration Aura + Blessed Life, but I ground him down, and killed him with Bonechewer.
5-3
Round 9 - Orc Totems
Usually a good matchup, as long as you can keep them from one-upping you with their own Orgrimmar + Rehgar
Game 1 - Went as expected killing any important totems and grinding him down. Rehgar pumped the team to attack for the win.
Game 2 - I didn't have Orgrimmar, and he did, which made things awkward. He played Rehgar and stole some of my guys, and my Rehgar couldn't do anything without my own Orgrimmar.
Game 3 - With day 2 on the line, I fanned a hand with Orgrimmar and breathed a sigh of relief. This deck plays so much smoother with an Orgrimmar. The game plan was followed here, attack important totems, steal Spring Totem with Rehgar, gave me more than enough gas to kill him.
6-3!!! Day 2!
This being my first Nationals, I was glad to make day 2.
After a night of draft discussions with the team, where the statement by Phil "The one bomb you might not notice right away is Detect Traps, if you cast it on 4, you can never lose", we passed out. This statement became the mantra of my day 2.
Draft 1 - My pod had Phil in it, but no one else I recognized.
I first picked Rula Blackfist, and second picked Arcane Spikes, hoping to move into Red Hunter (The Longeye). However, I fanned through the third pack, and then windmill slammed a Detect Traps. The rest of the draft fell into place relatively easily,
I ended up with a few removal spells, a Surge of Adrenaline, but was a little weak on large fatties.
The rounds were pretty uneventful, when I cast Detect Traps on 4, I never lost, but otherwise, it was a hardfought battle. I won Round 10 quickly, casting Detect Traps in both games.
Round 11 - Phil Cape
I was hoping to avoid Phil till Round 3 of this draft, but I wasn't able to do that. He had a very diverse deck, with 2x Blessing of the Heavens. Both games were quick, with Blessing blowing me out in each game. I didn't have Detect Traps in either...
Round 12 - The Longeye
All three games were long, and each of the first two games, one of us lost to milling. Game 3 was low on time, and he was able to get early damage in for the win on time.
Draft 2 -
The draft went exactly the same, except ending up in Alliance, with a 4th pick Detect Traps and a late Surge of Adrenaline from the Drums of War packs. I got a Burgle in Honor, and was hoping to ride a 2-1 into the top 64 to qualify for worlds. I had Tinker Bixy Blue, and a couple early protectors, so I felt like I had a few ways to victory. However, again, I was light on large monsters.
Long story short, we got there. Round 13 was Detect Traps blowout, round 14 I didn't see Detect Traps. Burgle won 1 game, but the other two were lost to large monsters that I wasn't able to deal with.
Round 15 - Red Warlock - for all the marbles, game 1 he won a long drawn out battle, but game 2 was a Detect Traps blowout (again...that card is a bomb...). Game 3 took a long time, but ended up going to time. However, I had Burgle that I had been holding for a while, and on his last turn, after he readied, I showed him Burgle for all his cards, and he frowned in disappointment, he was going to Dominate my entire board for the lifetotal win.
9-6 was good enough for top 50. I would've liked a better record, but for my first Nationals, I was happy to qualify for Worlds.
Congrats to my teammates who qualified for worlds, especially Phil, for the 2nd place visit.
We spent all of Thursday trying to track down enough copies of the Orc uncommons, had the decks built, had decklists written and were working on sideboards at about 11 PM when we realized that Bonechewer Behemoth was "Traitor Hero Req". Yes, the entire team was about to register illegal decklists for nationals. At midnight, after testing the Warlock v Warrior Orc mirror, and realizing that the loss of Bonechewer and instant speed removal wasn't worth Hesriana (mainly because she was a 2/3 - even if she killed a creature on 3, unless it was a Vexmaster, she was never fast enough to trade for another creature, because they were all x/3's). All in all, I felt that both lists were strong, but I wanted to go with the list I was more familiar with, and the rest of the team that was playing Orcs felt the same way.
After some last minute scrambling and failing to find enough Twinblades for the whole team, this is the list I registered:
Hero: Lionar the Blood Cursed
Allies
4 Bloodsoul
4 Offender Gora
4 Kagella Shadowmark
3 Vexmaster Nar’jo
4 Furious Kalla
3 Cromarius Blackfist
4 Kazamon Steelskin
4 Munkin Blackfist
3 Bonechewer Behemoth
3 Rehgar Earthfury
Abilities
3 Sudden Death
3 Finishing Shout
3 Bloody Ritual
Locations
4 Orgrimmar
Quests
4 Torek’s Assault
4 Bolstering Our Defenses
3 Uncatalogued Species
Side Deck
4 Brok Bloodcaller
3 Smash
1 Cromarius Blackfist
1 Finishing Shout
1 Vexmaster Nar'jo
We joked for a while about adding 1 Illidan to the board, just for laughs, but after waking up and realizing we were being stupid, we finally shuffled up for a long 9 rounds on day 1.
My apologies for the lack of perfect sideboarding, my memory is not perfect, but will add as much as I remember.
Round 1 - v. Mythen of the Fang
Game 1 - After winning the roll, Vexmaster on 2 ate an Apprentice Merry, but he had an active Form of the Serpent that was counting up. We were racing, but I had a Bonechewer that I was sandbagging to win the race. On the final turn, he played Wastewalker Helm facing my two creatures, one being a Kazamon. I had lethal this turn if he didn't kill my second creature due to Bonechewer, so I attacked with the other creature first, and after thinking for a long time, he wasn't able to think of a reason to kill it, and I burned him out with Bonechewer.
Sideboarding - In - Cromarius, Brok, a couple Smash's
Game 2 - I kept him off of a critical mass of equipment / abilities with Cromarius and Munkin, and was able to burn him out again from 20 with Bonechewer + Orgrimmar.
1-0
Round 2 - v. Hunter Orcs
This deck was the Orc base, with Dundee and Snipe. I personally think this version is much weaker than the Warrior build, missing both Finishing Shout and Bloody Ritual, which are both very critical to the deck. He told me that he won Round 1 because his opponent didn't show up, and I mentally
Game 1 - I lost the roll, but had Orgrimmar, and Kazamon got enough value to hold him off long enough to make up for losing the roll.
In - Brok, FS, and Vexmaster
Game 2 - He had Orgrimmar, and was fast enough that I couldn't keep up. My Finishing Shout on 5 killed a lot of creatures, but he had enough creatures left to kill me.
Game 3 - We both had Orgrimmar, but being in the play put me ahead, and Dundee was not good enough, and it was just Sudden Death'ed. Finishing Shout + Rehgar got the win.
2-0
Round 3 - v. BI
Game 1 - I played around the Taste of Arcana that I had the sick read was in his hand, but my hand was not powerful enough to deal with the start of Defias, Defias, Defias, Water Elemental, Water Elemental, Weldon Barov, Weldon Barov. Yes, must be nice...
Game 2 - I had Orgrimmar, which let me play around Taste easily, and 2 Brok's dealt with most of his threats. A Sudden Death killed a Weldon, and we were moving to game 3.
Game 3 - Turn 2 I cast Kagella, and he held me up for a long time, deciding whether or not to Taste it, and eventually chose to let it resolve. So after this, I played around Taste, and later on double Taste. This game went long, and I killed his first Weldon with a Gora that he decided not to Taste, another creature, Flip, and then Kazamon into Weldon. However, he backed this up by drawing a bunch of 5 drops, and I couldn't keep up after Dimzer and the 2nd Weldon.
2-1
Round 4 v Red Traitor Druid
Games 1 and 2 were very similar - Cromarius and Munkin killed any important abilites/equipment, and Kazamon attacked for a lot. He played Keldor the Lost, which slowed me down slightly, but Orgrimmar made up for the tempo change, and Keldor was eaten by a Kazamon.
3-1
Round 5 v Priest Discard
Game 1 -
He won the roll, and emptied my hand on 3. Spelunker on 4 and Weldon on 5 and we were on to game 2.
Game 2 -
On the play, I put on good pressure, and had 3 cards in my hand on turn 3, and he spent a long time thinking between Lose Control and the Discard 2. He eventually chose to lose control, and obviously hit the Bloody Ritual I had. Spelunker and Weldon ended this game just as quickly as the last one.
3-2
Round 6 v Witch Doctor Koozar
I wasn't happy about having to play against a teammate here, but I had tested this matchup extensively, so I felt comfortable.
Game 1 - The Orgrimmar deck does what it does best, go bigger and better than the other aggro decks, with Kazamon and Finishing Shout to kill a bunch of allies before she could kill me.
Game 2 - The Koozar deck does what it does best, vomiting guys into play, and backing that up with Shadowfiends, and I was dead very quickly.
Game 3 - I had Orgrimmar again, which helped keep her team in check. She killed the first Finishing Shout, but I had a second to ensure that she couldn't burn me with Shadowfiends. I killed her guys with value, and eventually went to the face. This matchup is all about keeping your life total as high as possible. Munkin isn't as bad as he looks, because he shuts off Shadowfiend.
4-2
Round 7 - Mythen
Both games went the same way, we both got some extra damage in, and were racing, and I was going to win the race both games, but he had 2x Hibernates both times to give him the win, even in the face of Bonechewer.
4-3
Round 8 - Holy Paladin
He already seemed to have given up, playing very loose. Both games he played Concentration Aura + Blessed Life, but I ground him down, and killed him with Bonechewer.
5-3
Round 9 - Orc Totems
Usually a good matchup, as long as you can keep them from one-upping you with their own Orgrimmar + Rehgar
Game 1 - Went as expected killing any important totems and grinding him down. Rehgar pumped the team to attack for the win.
Game 2 - I didn't have Orgrimmar, and he did, which made things awkward. He played Rehgar and stole some of my guys, and my Rehgar couldn't do anything without my own Orgrimmar.
Game 3 - With day 2 on the line, I fanned a hand with Orgrimmar and breathed a sigh of relief. This deck plays so much smoother with an Orgrimmar. The game plan was followed here, attack important totems, steal Spring Totem with Rehgar, gave me more than enough gas to kill him.
6-3!!! Day 2!
This being my first Nationals, I was glad to make day 2.
After a night of draft discussions with the team, where the statement by Phil "The one bomb you might not notice right away is Detect Traps, if you cast it on 4, you can never lose", we passed out. This statement became the mantra of my day 2.
Draft 1 - My pod had Phil in it, but no one else I recognized.
I first picked Rula Blackfist, and second picked Arcane Spikes, hoping to move into Red Hunter (The Longeye). However, I fanned through the third pack, and then windmill slammed a Detect Traps. The rest of the draft fell into place relatively easily,
I ended up with a few removal spells, a Surge of Adrenaline, but was a little weak on large fatties.
The rounds were pretty uneventful, when I cast Detect Traps on 4, I never lost, but otherwise, it was a hardfought battle. I won Round 10 quickly, casting Detect Traps in both games.
Round 11 - Phil Cape
I was hoping to avoid Phil till Round 3 of this draft, but I wasn't able to do that. He had a very diverse deck, with 2x Blessing of the Heavens. Both games were quick, with Blessing blowing me out in each game. I didn't have Detect Traps in either...
Round 12 - The Longeye
All three games were long, and each of the first two games, one of us lost to milling. Game 3 was low on time, and he was able to get early damage in for the win on time.
Draft 2 -
The draft went exactly the same, except ending up in Alliance, with a 4th pick Detect Traps and a late Surge of Adrenaline from the Drums of War packs. I got a Burgle in Honor, and was hoping to ride a 2-1 into the top 64 to qualify for worlds. I had Tinker Bixy Blue, and a couple early protectors, so I felt like I had a few ways to victory. However, again, I was light on large monsters.
Long story short, we got there. Round 13 was Detect Traps blowout, round 14 I didn't see Detect Traps. Burgle won 1 game, but the other two were lost to large monsters that I wasn't able to deal with.
Round 15 - Red Warlock - for all the marbles, game 1 he won a long drawn out battle, but game 2 was a Detect Traps blowout (again...that card is a bomb...). Game 3 took a long time, but ended up going to time. However, I had Burgle that I had been holding for a while, and on his last turn, after he readied, I showed him Burgle for all his cards, and he frowned in disappointment, he was going to Dominate my entire board for the lifetotal win.
9-6 was good enough for top 50. I would've liked a better record, but for my first Nationals, I was happy to qualify for Worlds.
Congrats to my teammates who qualified for worlds, especially Phil, for the 2nd place visit.
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